Nature's gift

Gardeners harness the sun's rays to brighten landscape

There are a wide variety of solar products available in the area. Here are a few items:

Pride Home Center

Solar clock about 6 feet tall with a weather vane $175.99

Decorative rock floodlight $24.99

Insect control light, covers 1.5 acres $99.99

Torch light $17.99

Home Depot

Bird bath $139

Copper cascading fountain $138

House number $44

Stepping stone $17.99

The Texas Panhandle has two free things you can depend on - wind and sun. While engineers still are learning to harness both on a grand scale, some of their power is at the fingertips of ordinary folks.

Take solar power. No longer does it cost thousands of dollars to tap into the sun's abundance. Products that range from floodlights disguised as decorative garden stones to bug zappers can be had for less than $100. And once the item is purchased, Father Sun runs it free.

Rhonda Maxwell harnesses the sun's free power at her Rolling Trail home.

She purchased her first solar gadgets - and she has an array of them - about six years ago and likes them because they are cost efficient and maintenance free.

Here's what you will see at her 2¾-acre plot of the American dream: lights around flower beds, colored floating lights on her pond, a fountain flowing into the pond, torches around the swimming pool and a solar bird feeder.

"At night it almost looks like a little flying saucer. It's so cool," Maxwell said.

Lights come on at dusk and go off at dawn.

"They are subtle. They are not overpowering. They go with any landscape, any type decor you have out there. It just sets a mood for your yard," she said.

Maxwell replaced electric lights with the solar devices.

With electric lighting, wires broke and fuses blew, she said. And even though her husband is an electrician, she prefers the solar gadgets that she can install and let go.

Les Brown, lawn and garden associate at Pride Home Center, lines his home sidewalk with four small lights.

No maintenance required except for keeping the solar panel clean on top of the lights because dust and dirt can block the necessary sunlight, he said.

"That's what makes 'em go," Brown said.

A steady stream of customers purchases other solar-powered products. In fact, he estimated that solar-powered garden lights outsell those that require wiring by four to one.

Sales of the small and fairly inexpensive products like floodlights, torch lights and bug zappers may reflect more than just what's going on in the yard and garden. Customers are becoming more sensitive to the energy use of appliances and looking for Energy Star certified appliances, Brown said.

"This is just a small step here," he said, referring to the garden products.

Jimmie Walker of Vega designs solar systems for homes and businesses and has been a fan of solar energy for more than 20 years.

Small items are more affordable and workable, but larger photo voltaic installations for the powering of homes are not affordable, especially in town, he said.

Sun-powered products are improving yearly, and a day will come when everyone will be able to afford them, Walker said.